LONDON -- Michael Laudrup was fired as Swansea manager on Tuesday, paying the price for a slump in the year since delivering the south Wales clubs first major trophy. The Dane is leaving the Premier League club after 20 months, having signed a new contract in March 2013 after being linked with leading clubs following his teams triumph in the League Cup. Now, though, Swansea is 12th in the standings but just two points above the relegation zone, prompting the 49-year-old Laudrups dismissal. "It is a decision we have taken reluctantly," chairman Huw Jenkins said. "But its a decision made in the best interests of Swansea City Football Club and our supporters. It is the first time in nearly 10 years that the club has parted with a manager in this way, but we had to remove the constant uncertainty surrounding the club and Michaels long-term future with us." Garry Monk, the 34-year-old defender who has been out injured since September, will replace Laudrup, alongside current first team coach Alan Curtis, "for the foreseeable future," Swansea said. Like Laudrup, two possible contenders for the job on a full-time basis are former Barcelona players who advocate the type of passing game favoured by Swansea; Oscar Garcia, who currently manages second-tier club Brighton, and Luis Enrique, who is in his first season as coach of Celta Vigo. Swanseas next game is the south Wales derby against fierce rival Cardiff at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday. "After thinking long and hard about the best way forward, I felt it was unlikely we would achieve a stable environment at the club (with Laudrup) to allow us to get back to basics and produce the performance levels that have served Swansea City so well over the last few years," Jenkins said. "Now we need to put that uncertainty behind us and move forward as a united football club on all fronts." For Laudrup, whose fortunes have rapidly plummeted since the League Cup success last February, it is the latest setback in a mixed managerial career for the former forward following a successful playing career that took in both Barcelona and Real Madrid. After winning the league and cup in Denmark with Brondby, he guided Getafe to the final of the Copa del Rey -- where they lost to Sevilla -- in his one season with the unheralded Spanish club. Next came a troubled year in Russia with Spartak Moscow before returning to Spain with Mallorca, where he soon fell out with the owners. It was at Swansea where his profile soared, building on the work of predecessor Brendan Rodgers and initially establishing the team as a fixture in the Premier Leagues top 10 with its attractive passing game. But since beating lowly Bradford in the cup final, Swansea has won just eight of out 35 Premier League games across the two seasons and there have been continuous reports about a rift with the hierarchy. . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. . Floundering in the English Premier League, United has delivered better performances in Europe this season and stunned Bayern by taking the lead against the run of play through Nemanja Vidics header in the 58th minute. Bayern had dominated possession but struggled to create a clear-cut chance before Schweinsteiger arrowed a half-volley high into the net in the 67th to give the German side a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Munich next week.
http://www.nbaknicksonline.com/womens-c ... ersey/.The seventh-seeded Raonic was scheduled to play U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan, but was replaced in the Group B pool by Spanish substitute David Ferrer.Raonic, who was 0-2 at the year-end event, said he suffered the injury late in the first set of Tuesdays 6-3, 7-6 loss to Murray. . The Eastern Conference-leading Celtics finished their recent trek at 3-1 on Monday in Salt Lake City when Rajon Rondo made a key jumper with 24.1 seconds remaining, as Boston held off the Utah Jazz, 107-102, at EnergySolutions Arena. .com) - Robert Martin and Josh Hicks combined for more than 300 yards rushing and three touchdowns, as Rutgers rolled past North Carolina, 40-21, in the Quick Lane Bowl.PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading to the playoffs for an eighth straight year. Barring an epic collapse, a Metropolitan Division title is all but clinched. What happens after that, however, is anybodys guess. Dominant in the beginning but dismal at the end, the Penguins let a chance to clinch their second straight division crown slip away in a 4-1 loss to Carolina on Tuesday night that left Pittsburgh just 8-8-2 since returning from the Olympic break. Not exactly the kind of momentum a Stanley Cup contender wants to bring into the final days of the regular season. "If youre not 100 per cent, they can expose you and make you look pretty silly," Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik said. "Thats what happened here tonight." Carolina rookie Elias Lindholm scored twice for the first multi-goal game of his career, Eric Staal and Justin Faulk also scored while Jeff Skinner added two assists. Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots as the Hurricanes avoided being swept in the season series by Pittsburgh for the first time in 18 years. "I thought we kept it simple and kind of slowly frustrated them as it went on and it was a win we needed," Staal said. Chris Kunitz scored his 35th goal to give Pittsburgh an early lead, but the Penguins crumbled over the final two periods. Sidney Crosby picked up an assist to push his NHL-leading point total to 100, but the Penguins appeared to lose interest after failing to bury the Hurricanes during a frenetic opening barrage in which they appeared ready to run Carolina out of the arena. "We all felt like the first 10 minutes we were carrying the play ... for whatever reason we got away from that," Crosby said. "Maybe we thought that came easy or we could get away with cheating. And it didnt work." No, it didnt. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves, but received little help playing behind a sloppy defence. The Penguins turned it over 13 times, including a series of miscues the Hurricanes were only too happy to turn into goals. "I think we started mismanaging the puck and started having turnovers in the neutral zone," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. The Penguins appeared to right the enigmatic final third of their seeason with a spirited 4-1 victory over Chicago on Sunday night.dddddddddddd Two days later, the sense of urgency evaporated when the Hurricanes -- who are about to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year -- failed to roll over. Pittsburgh recorded 12 of the first 14 shots, including Kunitzs wrist shot from the left circle that Khudobin never saw. Crosby picked up the secondary assist to lift his point total to the century mark for the fifth time in his career, drawing a roar from the usual sellout crowd at Consol Energy Center. It had all the makings of a blowout. One developed, just not the one the Penguins were expecting. Carolina steadied itself late in the first, evening the game on a knuckling slap shot by Faulk that gave the Hurricanes the confidence boost they needed to get back in it. The Penguins malaise did the rest. "That goal from (Faulk) really evens it up and then we kind of just took a deep breath, got our legs going better and then I thought we just started moving better and playing a much smarter game," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. Lindholm put Carolina in front to stay 9:24 into the second with a power-play goal that included a pretty feed from Skinner, who threaded a pass between Pittsburgh defenceman Olli Maattas legs right to Lindholms stick. Fleury never had a chance. The goaltender was equally helpless five minutes later when a turnover by teammate Deryk Engelland handed Skinner and Lindholm a breakaway that Lindholm converted into the first multi-goal game of his brief career. Any late push by the Penguins ended when Staals tip-in eluded Fleury with just over 8 minutes left. Instead of skating off the ice with their fourth division title since Crosbys arrival in 2005, Pittsburgh trudged to the locker room wondering when the consistency that propelled them to the top of the Eastern Conference before the Olympic break will return. "Theres not much good to take out of it," Crosby said. "So weve just got to make sure we respond the next game." NOTES: Carolina played without F Alexander Semin, who was scratched due to an illness. ... The Hurricanes return home to face Dallas on Thursday. ... The Penguins fell to 45-8-4 this season when Crosby scores a point. ' ' '